The head of Boeing's commercial aircraft division, Kevin McAllister, is leaving the company in the midst of the 737 Max disaster. His successor was appointed by US aircraft manufacturer Stan Deal, who has been with the Group since 1986 and previously led Global Services' customer service division. "We are grateful to Kevin for his dedicated and tireless efforts," said CEO Dennis Muilenburg.
Two crashes of Boeing's best-selling 737 Max aircraft within a few months had plunged the company into a deep crisis. The top management is heavily criticized for possible manufacturer errors that could have led to the disasters in October 2018 and March 2019 in Indonesia and Ethiopia. A total of 346 people were killed in the crashes.
Only last week, the US aviation authority FAA had raised allegations against Boeing for alleged negligence in registering the 737 Max. The company had a document in which a technical leader had expressed negative about the flight characteristics of the 737 Max, found months ago, the Ministry of Transport, however, presented only last Thursday.
US aviation authority calls for "immediate explanation"
As reported, among other things, the "New York Times", the technical chief pilot Mark Forkner is said to have complained years ago after test flights in a flight simulator about the poor flight characteristics of the 737 Max. "Even assuming I'm a bad pilot, that was outrageous," the newspaper quoted from a transcript of a conversation that Forkner allegedly led to a colleague.
FAA chief Steve Dickson, in a letter to Boeing chief Dennis Muilenburg published by the agency, called for an "immediate explanation" as to why a "disturbing document" was revealed to supervisors so late.
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The problems with the 737 Max are a huge burden for Boeing. Since the second crash in March, the crisis jets have been deported. When they are allowed to withdraw is still unclear. Since Boeing can no longer deliver its best-selling aircraft to the calamities, the production had to be significantly throttled. The longer the hoped-for readmission, the more expensive it gets.
In the second quarter alone, the 737-Max compulsory break in the Airbus rival for a record loss of $ 2.9 billion (about 2.6 billion euros). Turnover fell 35 percent to $ 15.8 billion. Boeing's total loss record since the flight bans imposed in March was $ 8.3 billion at the end of June, according to financial services Bloomberg.
